1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to methods and systems supporting online consumer interactions by a user in a networked system.
2. Related Art
Conventional network-based marketplaces (e.g. consumer websites) provide users with functionality to browse a collection of items (e.g. goods or services) at a website and to make purchases using a variety of means. Many commercial websites provide several payment methods. Some of these methods include transferring customer credit card information to the merchant site for processing. The well-known PayPal system enables a customer to set up a user account that may be used for payment of network-based commercial transactions. In other payment systems, a merchant can take customer credit card information by telephone and process the credit transaction manually. Although phone-based payment systems are easy and fast for consumers, conventional phone payment services typically require the merchant to perform additional processing steps, such as entering customer credit card information into a phone-based system. These additional steps create delays and the potential for errors in processing the phone payment transaction. Further, the merchant becomes aware of the customer's credit card information or other personal financial information, which may lead to security problems for the customer.